A True Original

When it comes to classic Danish furniture, Poul Kjærholm inspires an almost cultlike following. Trained as a cabinetmaker at the School of Arts and Crafts, in Copenhagen, Kjærholm (pronounced KEER-holm) became the star pupil of Hans Wegner. He liked to mix materials in unconventional combinations—steel with rattan or canvas—to create minimalist furnishings that look as fresh today as when they were designed in the 1950s and ’60s. In 2007, a pair of the designer’s PK22 lounge chairs made by the initial manufacturer, E. Kold Christensen, sold at auction for $15,206. Now Fritz Hansen, working with Kristine Kjærholm, the daughter of the celebrated designer and a textile designer herself, has reintroduced the PK22 chair in the original cotton canvas with a selection of original colors: primary red, umber green, and black. “The old palette had blue and yellow, too, but it’s not commercial enough,” Kjærholm says. “Fritz Hansen said nobody today wants to buy a yellow or blue chair.” If you’re looking for a complete Kjærholm look, the manufacturer is also reintroducing the designer’s PK71 series of nesting tables in red and green.